Healthcare Services Account Manager Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jan 2011 in Santa Cruz, CA (took 2 weeks)

Applied via an ad listed on Craigslist. Got a call for a preliminary interview within the week. You will be asked to meet at a coffee shop, most likely Starbuck's.

I interviewed with a Michael Oropeza. He was easily recognizable upon entering the Starbucks as he was wearing a name tag (had both his name and Healthcare Services Group on it), and seated right next to the entrance.

Asked usual interview questions:
Tell me a little about yourself.
Have you/how would you deal with an employee that was performing unsatisfactorily? (His example involved a worker who, for the sake of that example performed excellently, but was always showing up late. He explained the workers you managed in that field are practically minimum wage, and unmotivated.)
Have you ever been to/worked/experienced being in a retirement home, and how long?
There were others, but I've forgotten what they were. (This first interview was two weeks ago)
Note: He did have a clipboard and lots of paper work, but he mostly seemed to be following an obvious paper with a list of questions (I glanced at it, they seemed general and not specific to me)

At the end of the interview he said he'd call me back by Friday to arrange what time on Wednesday the next week I should show up.

After the interview, he walked out with me, and we both headed off in separate directions for our cars. Interpret that as you will.

Come Monday evening I still haven't heard back from him yet, so I send him a polite email asking if he'd still like for me to come take a look around, or if he'd chosen someone else and moved on. He replied cordially and insisted he'd very much like to have me come in Wednesday, and gave me the appointed time Tuesday morning. He also stated that there would be one other person there with me.

Second interview:
Michael showed up from down the hallway just about on time, and started talking with us about the job and environment, then got a phone call. After looking at who it was from, he told us it was urgent and excused himself politely to go deal with something. This resulted in the two of us, applicants, chatting for about 40 minutes.

When he finally showed back up, he gave us a tour of the facility, outlining responsibilities as we went along. He also introduced us to many of his staff, and explained some rules along the way to give us a feel of how it would be. He did seem to know the names of just about every employee and resident, and the employees freely joked back and forth with him

We started in one building, which apparently held those who were still relatively healthy, and able to move around and generally take care of themselves. We eventually progressed into the second building (part of the same facility) and were immediately greeted by a pungent odor. Michael made a point to stop when we first entered, outside of earshot of any residents, and told us that we would have to be able to put up with this odor. He then continued the tour showing us around the other facility and further outlining duties.

After we went through the second building, we went back through the first and he introduced us to an associate of his also working at that place. It was a pretty young guy, and he had been hired straight out of college. I think he had been with the company for 1-2 years, and was DM (district manager) level, but chose to focus on training others instead. It was at this point he also informed us that he was offered advancement as a regional manager, but turned it down as he didn't want to transfer to wherever it was they offered him the position (I've forgotten).

This is where the interview wrapped up, where we asked them questions, and they told us about their own experiences, etc.

List of Duties:
Payroll
Laundry
Buffing/Waxing Floors - They quoted me like 8 hours for a single hallway
'Deep Cleaning' rooms. (Entails moving everything out, washing floor, priming, then waxing. Takes a few hours per room)
Hiring/Recruiting + firing unfavorable employees
Sometimes cleaning up after residents
Scheduling

Too long, Didn't Read (TL:DR):
Must be okay with pungent odors
If you're told you're going to get an offer, don't hedge your bets on it coming true.
Will be having first interview outside of an office (Starbucks, etc)
Pay is low (~$30k/year)